Take a sniveling farmboy from Tatooine, dress him up like a Ghostbuster (sans proton pack), and then have him wallow around in a swamp for a few days...and you've got "Bespin Luke." I never really understood where the Bespin connection came from, considering that the outfit he is wearing in much of the Empire Strikes Back was a utility jumper that he put on in the medical bay at Echo Base on Hoth. He wore it more on Dagobah than he ever did in Cloud City. But nonetheless...the Bespin thing stuck, and here we are at our most recent review in the VTAC line: Luke Skywalker.

This will make Luke's third appearance in the Vintage line so far. His first being in the original VOTC line back in 2004 (in his moisture farmer duds) and again in last year's VTSC line (in X-Wing flightsuit). The first two figures used the same head mold with a paint app differentiation so slight that you REALLY had to be nitpicking to see it. This time around he comes with a brand new head mold. Some collectors will bemoan this new incarnation of Luke's head while others will probably like it. Does it look like Mark Hamill? If it does, you have to squint to see the similarities. He actually seems to look a bit like Eric Foreman from "That 70's Show" than anyone else. But hey, Eric was a huge Star Wars fan, so there may be some sort of life imitating art thing going on here! I'm just relieved that its not another scary head like the one used on Ceremonial Luke...

Bespin Luke is the most super-articulated VTAC figure thus far (with the possible exception of IG-88), so his new head mold can be overlooked simply for this reason alone. Luke comes with 10 ball-socket joints (neck, torso, shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles), 2 straight-cut joints (hips) and 2 swivel joints (wrists). While his face may seem a tad goofy to some, this figure can reenact practically any scene from ESB, from the Dagobah campsite scene, or him dangling from one of Cloud City's weather vanes, or him laid out in the Millenium Falcon's medbay nursing his stump of an arm. Your options are only limited by your imagination here. A common complaint about past "vintage" Lukes has been their height...or rather lack thereof. X-Wing Luke was so short that his overly-long arms garnered him the nickname "Monkey Luke" by collectors. Thankfully, this has been resolved this time around. Bespin Luke stands just as tall as VTSC Trenchcoat Han Solo.

The paint app on young Skywalker is remarkably movie-accurate...read: dirty. The fatigues have the telltale swamp water and algae stains as well as dried mud around the soles of the boots. Nothing a good dry cleaner can't fix. The belt/holster is a new design and is a muted brown with silver buckle and greeblies. Hasbro definitely got the feel of this figure right where the paint job is concerned.

A pleasant surprise that I found with this figure is a completely redesigned DL-22 blaster with a different scope. But I was a bit disappointed that Hasbro neglected to somehow work a deactivated lightsaber onto the belt. Bespin Luke with his lightsaber hanging from his belt is nearly iconic among Star Wars fans, yet this was completely overlooked. X-Wing Luke got one (although it was Vader's lightsaber hilt...but we won't go there)...even Ceremonial Luke got one (again...Vader's lightsaber). What gives? All in all, Bespin Luke is a solid figure, in spite of a new head mold. When I first saw him in the package, I was prepared to hate this figure completely, but he quickly grew on me. I think this is the best Bespin Luke we've seen come down the pipe in years...and I think a lot of collectors will agree with me (in spite of the head).